Do road graders go to school to learn how to grade roads? Well I think they should. Because I havent seen a road graded right. I just came off of Moon Creek road and some guy was grading it. but he wasnt getting the bumps out of the road. So maybe he doesnt know how.

Why didn't you stop and ask him if he attended a school? Maybe he skipped that class

He would probably explain to you that it costs too much to do it right.

I know of a few teachers that also say that grading roads is a big pain in the butt

MCC does have a heavy equipment class and running a maintainer is part of the curriculum. Do not know who was grading the road, their training or how they might have been doing the job. But I have talked to people that have done it and it is trickier and different then one tends to think. Doing what one thinks looks right can cause the surface to fall apart with a small rain.

[This message has been edited by Steve Allison (6/15/2011)]

Well, Korkey was in the navy and he's full of down-home common sense know how, so I would assume that he would know what he was talking about.

The dude running the grader was probably a union effete, so he can eat a bag of salty salty dicks, amirite?

well for one thing it has been a very tough year for grading roads, there are soft spots all over the place so a person can't really put a lot of pressure down on the blade,or you will really have a mess, just be patient, they will get better as things dry out

I totally agree about the LACK of good road grading abilities....yes, I have run a road grader on our private ranch roads....and NO...I didn't have ridges, corduroy, or a FLAT road surface. (It takes effort and time, but YES, corduroy areas can be cut out of a road. Road surfaces need to be crowned in order to shed off water.) Experience was my teacher....along with my dad and a former Custer County Commissioner.

I have been told by the Custer County Road Dept. in the past few years, 'you can't get rid of the corduroy'....or 'it's too expensive to do anything more than a bandaid fix on the county roads'.

You shouldn't expect the government to grade roads properly, unless you are a COMMUNIST OR SOCIALIST!!! If you really want to get your road graded RIGHT (not left), you should have your local church identify the best equipment operator in the congregation to take the local lad out on the county grader, and teach him how to grade a county road properly.

Because goverment is never the solution. Only the problem. We have to get America Right. And that means letting the local church's best operator to volunteer his time Sunday afternoon to teach this whippersnapper how to grade a county road.

We have to get America Right.

Mick Wies used to be one of the county grader operators. He was the only one that would take the time to cut the washboard ruts out. He caught a lot of grief from the road foreman due to the time it takes to do it right and the associated costs. He was finally forced to do it the cheap way. Given all of the miles of road to cover, they have time to throw the gravel back into the ruts and move on.

I was always impressed with the way Dawson Co. graded roads. They used to run two graders as a pair. One would move the gravel off to the side and the second one would cut out the ruts. In just a couple of passes they had the road in good shape.

In fairness to the road maintainers, the amount of traffic on rural roads is comparable to the increase one sees in town and on the highway. And that traffic prefers to travel at as high a speed as is feasible which in turn speeds up the number of corduroys and pot holes. Evidently it's cheaper to replace/repair car parts than slow down. We live on a gravel road on the edge of town and our street/road is a mess with the traffic that whips down the street, regardless of a 15 mph sign, and injury to the vehicle. I suspect the thinking on the road crew is that if people are going to travel like that, why bother to do more than fill holes temporarily.

I have been told that Custer County has 2-3 times the number of miles of gravel road per operator that is recommended. Add to that the amount of damage to the roads due to the heavy rains and the fact that they can't grade the roads when they are wet and you can imagine how far behind they are right now. You should call your county commissioner and tell them to raise taxes.

I suggest you move to Flathead County, build a 3 million dollar home halfway up Yuck Gulch and then sue the county for failing to pave and plow the road all the way to your driveway. The aggravation of potholes and washouts and knee deep drifting snow and clouds of dust are cause for understandable grievance and misery during your bi-annual visits. Just takes away from the cozy splendor you come here for. lol

If you don't like how the roads are being worked maybe you should put in your application to the road dept.

Fallon County isn't even focusing on bladeing they are just trying to fix wash outs, culverts, and bridges.

I'm sure Custer County is doing the same thing, (with less operators and older equipment).

RA, you said you ran a blade on private ranch roads. Unless you have a huge amount of traffic you can't even come close to compareing the two.

Please try to travel slower on the county roads they will hold together better, drive the ridges down (harder on tires better for the road) only travel down the muddy roads if you have to. Slow down for the blade when they are working.

Before you venture out on county roads in this wet,wet year where many gravel roads are being washed out, check Facebook for the latest information concerning potential road closures and detours.